Irrational Games announces that previews of BioShock Infinite are appearing now that some press have had some hands-on time with the upcoming shooter sequel. They follow this optimism with word that the game's release has suffered another setback, albeit a small one. After choosing the exact release date of February 26, 2013 after the game's last delay, they now say the game is due precisely one month later:

Work on the game is now down to final polish and bugfixing. In order to give the team a few more weeks of this polish, the release date of BioShock Infinite is March 26th.

We know that this is going to ruffle some feathers. But we’re willing to take the heat to make sure that BioShock Infinite is 100% the game our fans deserve.

The first non-gameplay trailer had me excited. The first gameplay made me pretty much actively want to not play it. I don't think there was a single free moment of actual gameplay. It was 100% auto-aim and press-x-to-advance.

Creston wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 18:15:The original Half-Life was heavily scripted, Valve just did a very good job of hiding the fact.

Yeah, but it has to be taken in context - it was hugely innovative and compelling at the time. HL2 did a much better job, especially the way characters reacted to your location in the scene.

Meanwhile, games like COD have taken the genre backwards with infinitely spawning enemies, having to wait for cutscenes to be triggered, linear level design, etc. The genre has evolved and games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Far Cry 3 and Dishonored have really pushed a more freeform style of gameplay - my fear is that Infinite will come across as too restrictive, especially as it doesn't have the deliberately claustrophobic underwater setting of the original.

We shall see but all the videos I've seen have basically been one scripted event / narrative event after another with the player simply waiting for them to trigger.

I don't mind a game with 'good' scripting. HL1/2 of course are the best examples. However I cannot stand games that are so heavily scripted that each playthrough is 100% identical (I'm looking at you CoD!). Worse yet, scripted sequences that take control away from the players. That just drives me NUTS.

One of the reasons I think Farcry 2 is 'meh'. Way to many times I'd love to be doing something but have to sit back and watch the action.

Jerykk wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 23:13:Can't really agree with you here. Level scripting is almost always blatantly obvious, especially in stealth games where you spend a lot of time observing NPC behavior. Bioshock and Infinite aren't stealth games but you do spend some time observing enemies before taking action.

Jerykk doesn't agree with me? Gee whirlickers, what a shock!

Seriously though, I guess it could depend on how much attention you actively pay to such things. When I'm playing a game and enjoying it, the absolute last things I think of are what others seems to dwell on to the exclusion of almost everything else. When I am engrossed in a fun game I never, ever catch myself thinking "this guard's behavior looks scripted" or "this AI is too predictable", or even "these textures look low res". In truth, more often than not I am grateful that the AI is not Einstein-level smart or the scripting isn't 100% believable and realistic. If every guard in games did exactly what military-trained sentries do when on guard duty perfectly then stealth games would become impossible for me and be zero fun. In essence, I want flawed, predictable behavior; I want poor, dumb AI. Otherwise the game loses its fun to all but the masochistic challenge seekers. That's the way I see it anyway. The perfect scripting or perfect AI is not one that makes the NPC's behavior impeccable and brilliant; it's one that makes the game fun to play, and they are nowhere near the same thing.

I love that the guards in Deus Ex were so blind and stupid - it made the game infinitely more enjoyable to me. If you need to play against opponents who are genius level or indistinguishable from humans I always thought that what competitive multiplayer games are for. One of the Splinter Cell games had a stealth competitive mode, (which I absolutely hated), and there was that Thief-like Unreal Tournament 2k4 mod that let players play guards versus thieves, also no fun. Too damn hard to feel like anything but a bumbling idiot and not a master thief. I can feel inadequate and incompetent enough in real life without being made to feel that way in games too.

This comment was edited on Dec 7, 2012, 23:33.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Prez wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 22:44:I'm not sure why scripting is so looked down upon. Well-done scripting is far easier to do than good AI and is almost indistinguishable from natural and believable AI on the first play-through, which frankly is the one that matters the most. Honestly it sounds like you guys are against BAD scripting, not scripting in general. I think people are over-analyzing this a bit too much, but that's just me.

Can't really agree with you here. Level scripting is almost always blatantly obvious, especially in stealth games where you spend a lot of time observing NPC behavior. Bioshock and Infinite aren't stealth games but you do spend some time observing enemies before taking action.

I'm not sure why scripting is so looked down upon. Well-done scripting is far easier to do than good AI and is almost indistinguishable from natural and believable AI on the first play-through, which frankly is the one that matters the most. Honestly it sounds like you guys are against BAD scripting, not scripting in general. I think people are over-analyzing this a bit too much, but that's just me.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

They didn't try to hide it at all, it wore scripting like a badge of honor. This was at the time when enemies were usually just spawned in a rigid location on a map and didn't move until the player activated them, so it was very much a step forward for the genre. Most of the enemies in HL1 were doing something very obviously scripted as the player approached them.

I like scripting in narrative games, as long as it's not too long. I think it's an important part of pacing. It was handled well in HL2, where you could move around and check things out while the scripted event was going on. Even if we get holodeck tech, we'll still have scripting in narrative "games" in that environment. You'll just be in control the whole time, I imagine.

Yakubs wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 15:52:I think scripting was something that really enhanced a game when it was new and exciting (the original Half-Life really blew me away). But I see it as a negative in new games, for the most part. To me it was a stepping stone in game design and technology that designers should be leaving behind at this point.

This. Singleplayer games currently need a degree of scripting in order to create a compelling narrative but when it becomes too rigid it becomes very noticeable and severely impacts upon replayability. For instance, Far Cry 3 has scripted sequences with strong emotional attachments but they punctuate gameplay that is very freeform, whereas games like the Call Of Duty series rely too heavily on scripting and the gameplay mechanics are too readily apparent. There's a fine line between a compelling game with scripting and an overly scripted game, with a lot of that dependent upon the depth of the gameplay.

For me the best scripting is where you have complete control of the character and screen, with everything happening around you - this is best demonstrated by the Half-Life and Elder Scrolls franchises. Far Cry 3 has much better acting and scripting but the lack of player control during cutscenes makes you feel less connected to the action. You don't need to force the camera to stick on a particular scene, as if you make the scene compelling enough then the players will want to watch it and engage with it of their own accord.

I think the ultimate end-game of gaming is complete immersion, ala the holodeck in Star Trek. I can understand why developers want to leverage the strengths of cinema but I think it works against the primary strength of the gaming platform, which is interaction. My concern with BioShock Infinite is that the gameplay will be too shallow and the environments too linear, which means you'll basically be walking from one scripted event to another.

Yakubs wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 15:52:I don't agree. I think scripting was something that really enhanced a game when it was new and exciting (the original Half-Life really blew me away). But I see it as a negative in new games, for the most part. To me it was a stepping stone in game design and technology that designers should be leaving behind at this point.

I don't know, that sounds a little contrary for the sake of it to me. Scripting is used to help tell a story and weave the gameplay around the player. We can't just have entirely freeform games or create your own gameplay Minecraft style titles. AI isn't nowhere near close to that point in the gaming industry to create the kind of games people expect without scripting. Most of the best open world games still have a major scripted component even. If you said designers should invest more in quality AI to help create new kinds of gameplay experiences then I could agree with that but even tightly scripted, linear affairs still have their place IMHO.

Certainly they are part of games, I don't mean to imply that scripting means it's a dealbreaker for me, as you pointed out Bioshock had plenty of scripted events. It's just all the promotional material I have seen (in-game) has basically been nothing but scripted events playing out. I wanna know what the game is like in between that stuff beofre I make a call.

Sure, that's totally fair and mirrors my own attitude about Bioshock Infinite. They really need to show off more of the game.

Verno wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 15:47:You know what though? We're a little too down on scripting sometimes. Scripted can be good, many of my favorite games were linear, scripted affairs. Bioshock had a lot of memorable scripted moments even. I'll give this a fair shake when it comes out but I won't be preordering.

I don't agree. I think scripting was something that really enhanced a game when it was new and exciting (the original Half-Life really blew me away). But I see it as a negative in new games, for the most part. To me it was a stepping stone in game design and technology that designers should be leaving behind at this point.

Verno wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 15:47:You know what though? We're a little too down on scripting sometimes. Scripted can be good, many of my favorite games were linear, scripted affairs. Bioshock had a lot of memorable scripted moments even. I'll give this a fair shake when it comes out but I won't be preordering.

Certainly they are part of games, I don't mean to imply that scripting means it's a dealbreaker for me, as you pointed out Bioshock had plenty of scripted events. It's just all the promotional material I have seen (in-game) has basically been nothing but scripted events playing out. I wanna know what the game is like in between that stuff beofre I make a call.

You know what though? We're a little too down on scripting sometimes. Scripted can be good, many of my favorite games were linear, scripted affairs. Bioshock had a lot of memorable scripted moments even. I'll give this a fair shake when it comes out but I won't be preordering.

After finally working through a big chunk of my backlog I'm starting to appreciate games where you just have a pleasant experience and put them aside instead of every game needing some endless replay value component.

Tumbler wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 15:03:Meh, lost interest in this game. I'll look at it when it comes out, on to other things.

This is where I'm at. There just hasn't been a lot they have shown off, I fear the game will be nothing but a series of scripted events that might look cool but ultimately will turn out to be bland piece of junk. Im definitely going to wait for some reviews.

This. Except I had this feeling from before it was announced and I never had interest in it.

Tumbler wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 15:03:Meh, lost interest in this game. I'll look at it when it comes out, on to other things.

This is where I'm at. There just hasn't been a lot they have shown off, I fear the game will be nothing but a series of scripted events that might look cool but ultimately will turn out to be bland piece of junk. Im definitely going to wait for some reviews.

I mean, if you're taking up time to look up stuff and share it with the rest of us, I think it's fair to say you're just as invested, or riled up as 'these people' are, albeit with a different objective of maintaining the status quo.

Beelzebud wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 14:27:A wise developer once said "No one will remember if the game is late, only if it’s great.", and then promptly threw that wisdom out the window and released Diablo 3 at least a year too early.

Beelzebud wrote on Dec 7, 2012, 14:27:A wise developer once said "No one will remember if the game is late, only if it’s great.", and then promptly threw that wisdom out the window and released Diablo 3 at least a year too early.